Gourt Home::Gourt :: Indian pickle
Pickling in India is an ancient art and has been used to preserve food for thousands of years. Indian pickles are quite different from the European variety in that the pickling is done in oil rather than using vinegar.
Preparation
Pickles form an integral part of an Indian meal. Seasonal vegetables and fruits are cleaned and finely chopped; they are then mixed with a special blend of ground spices and marinated in oil.
The choice of spices gives the Indian pickle its unique flavor. Most pickles are made in the summer and allowed to mature in the hot sun for at least three weeks before use. Pickles are generally stored in porcelain or glass jar with air-tight lids. The acidic nature of the marinade retards bacterial growth, while the oil acts as a preservative. Pickles can retain their freshness and flavor, so long as they do not come into contact with moisture. However, commercially made pickles use preservatives such as citric acid or sodium benzoate.
Indian pickles come in an amazing variety of flavors -- a mango pickle from South India tastes very differently from that made in North India. In the southern states, sesame (gingelly) oil is preferred, while mustard oil is more typically used in pickle-making in northern India. The cuisine of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh is probably the spiciest of all Indian cuisine. Andhra pickles and chutneys have a unique flavor and are popular among all those who like it hot.
Fruits and vegetables used
Some of the vegetables and fruits used in pickling include, mango, lemon, lime, ginger, gooseberry, onion, garlic, green chili, etc. There are a wide variety of different achars made and each is usually made with a mixture of fruits or vegetables which are chopped and marinated in a liquid (often oil or lemon juice) and a variety of different spices (often including lots of chile pepper) and salt. Almost all sorts of fruits vegetables found in South Asia are pickled in this manner, including pumpkins, heart of palm, mango slices, and rose petals, along with vegetables more conventionally pickled in the west. Some of the most popular varieties of Indian pickle are mango pickle, lemon pickle, lime pickle, mixed pickle (usually including cauliflower, carrot, and radish), onion pickle, and garlic pickle.
Some Indian pickles may even contain fish (typically Synodus spp.) as their main ingredient. Such pickles serve as a flavor enhancer and are eaten typically in small pieces with the rest of the meal.
Names
Achar (अचार, also written as "Achaar" and often simply called "pickle" in English) is the Hindi word for the variety of spicy pickled side dish or condiment popular in the Indian subcontinent, in Southeast Asia, and in many other areas among ethnically South Asian communities. A similar dish in Malaysia is called acar.
This word has also been borrowed by other Indian languages to mean the same thing. However, these languages may have their own words for pickle. For instance, in Malayalam, each type of pickle is usually given its own name; such names include:
- Uppillittuthu - literally, "that which is put in salt"; generic term for pickle
- Maangaacurry - literally, "curry of mango"; term for lemon pickle.
- Ingicurry - literally, "curry of ginger"; term for ginger pickle
References
External links
See also
"Indian pickle"